Internal-combustion engine.



N. A. CHRISTENSEN.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1910. 1,073,092.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

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3 Inventor;

(attorneys.

N. A. CHRISTENSEN."

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1910.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

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INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18 1910.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

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Inventor, I M

Witnesges,'

N. A. CHRISTENSEN.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED M-AY 18, 1910. 1,073,092, Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

m I lllrlll/l/ll/l Inventor:

B3 attorneys.

71 i tneases, W MW STATES PATENT orrron.

NIELS A. CHRISTENSEN, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t d t 1 19 3 Application filed May 18, 1910. Serial No. 561,939.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, NIELS A. CHRIsrnN- SEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new .and useful Improvements in. Internal- Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and the objects of the 1nvention are to simplify the construction of such enginesby so constructing and ar-- ranging the parts that the engine can be readily assembled and disassembled b unlts without disturbing the cams or a ecting other adjustments, by reducing the number of separate parts, and generally to improve such engines in matters of structural detail and arrangement in the manner to be Figure 1 is an elevation of the engine, parts being broken away to illustrate the construction more clearly; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line aa,

Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the engine, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the front end of the engine, parts being shown in section and the cover plate being omitted; Fig. 5 is an elevation showing some of the gears in detail; Fig. 6 is a vertical section of a detail; Fig. 7 is a side elevation of one form of a cam-shaft bearing; Fig. 8 is an end elevation, with part broken away, of the bearing shown by Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is a side elevation of another form of cam-shaft bearin and Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the earing shown by Fig. 9, with part broken away.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates the crankcase generally. The crank-case lis formed preferably as a single casting and is composed of (A) a hollow shell awhich is open at its bottom and which has a flat top so that the cylinders can be easily secured thereto, (B) laterally projecting arms or lugs 2, 3, 4 and 5 which are provided with apertures or bolt holes so that the crankcase 1 can be bolted or otherwise secured to an automobile frame or other support (not shown), (C) shelves 6 and c which project laterally from the bottom of shell a and extend from arms 2 and 3 to arms 4 and 5 and which shelves at their outer edges have upwardly extending sides (1 and 6 whereby pans f and g are formed on each side of shell a to catch and retain oil, etc., which may drip from the parts'of the engine above the pans f and g, and (D) the upper part' of a gear and shaft casing h. The ends of the pans f and g and the ends of the shell a are closed as shown and the upper part of the gear and shaft casing :72 is on the outside of the closed front ends of the shell a and pan 9' as clearly shown by Fig. 4 of the drawings, but the lower part it h of the gear and shaft casing 72. is cast on the outside of the'closed front end of the crankcase cover 19.

For convenience in describing the engine the end of the engine where the flywheel is located will be called the rear or rear end, and the opposite end will be called the front or front end of the engine.

The crank-case 1 is provided with three bearings for a crank shaft 6. One of these bearings is at the front of the engine in the end of shell a and is not shown by the drawings. Another projects from the end of a shell a at the rear of the engine and is designated by the reference letter i. The third is designated by the reference letter 7' and is formed in a web 30 which extends across the inside of hollow shell a about midway of its length. Crank shaft 6 is retained-in the bearings by caps k (only one of which is shown by the drawings) and cap bolts Z. Bushings m of any suitable or preferred antifriction metal may be placed betlweien the bearings and caps and the crank s a t.

The top of the shell a is provided with the usual cylinder or piston apertures, apertures for oil pipes, oiling, hand holes, etc., as is customary in this type of engines, and apertures are also provided for the valve lifter guides to be hereinafter described, and preferably shell a has cast therewith a pedestal n to support a part of the lubricating mechanism (not shown).

' ferred to placethe cylinders so that their axes do not intersect the axis'of crank shaft 6, but are at one side thereof, as .clearly shown by Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings and the cylinders are provided with hol; low projections 13 on the crank shaft sides thereof to allow for the swing of the connecting rods. The cylinder or piston apertures in the top of shell a have recesses 0 extending out under projections 13 to allow for the swing of the connecting rods, as clearly shown by Fig. 2 of the drawings. The cylinders contain pistons which are connected with cranks 14 (some of which are shown) on crank shaft 6 by means of connecting rods 15. The cylinders are also provided with spark plugs 16 and priming valves 17 of any suitable or preferred construction, water jackets 18 and inlet and exhaust valves.

The crank-case cover 19 is adapted to be bolted or otherwise secured to the open lower side of crank-case 1, and this crankcase cover while servin as a cover for the lower open side of cran -case 1, also serves as a receptacle to contain lubricating oil to oil the engine by splash lubrication. The crank-case cover 19 has a partition 20 preferably disposed about midway-of its length,

the function of this partition being to prevent the oil in the crank-case cover from surging to one end or the other of the cover and possibly flooding a cylinder or cylinders when the engine is tipped or inclined to the horizontal. The bottom of the crankcase cover is provided with slots 21 through which sediment in the oil, such as sand, scale and metallic particles may drop into the drum 22 from which the sediment can be readily removed by removing the screw plugs 23 and 24 at the ends of the drum. The partition 20 should extend down into the drum 22, as shown, and it is preferred to form the drum, crank-case cover and partition 20 as an integral casting.

fully described. The cam shaft has two bearings in addition to the bearing p, one at the front of the engine located in the bore 1' and an intermediate one located in the bore .9. The bores 1- and s are made in the front end of shell w and web 30 respectively and are of such a size that cam shaft 25 with the cams thereon can be withdrawn or inserted through said bores. The front ends of shell a and web 30 are each provided with elongated bosses for said bores r and s so as to provide ample support for the cam-shaft bearings t and it which are loosely supported on cam shaft 25 and which are adapted to be received and retained within said bores 1" and s to support said cam shaft. The cam shaft can rotate freely in said bearings t and u, as will be readily understood. The bearings t and u may be duplicates one of the other, or, as illustrated by the drawings and as preferred, the bearing a may have wings on each side of the disk. As each of the bearings t and u is of the same general construction, the same reference characters will be used to designate the same structural features, Each bearing consists of'a bored hub '0 which has holes w therein so that oil canpass into the bore to lubricate the cam shaft, and extending radially from the hub is a disk :20 which has a groove in its periphery. Extending longitudinally from disk 02 are radially disposed wings g which terminate in an end disk 2. By this construction ockets are formed between the wings 3 an disks m and z, and oil splashed into the upper pockets flows through holes 'w into the bores of the bearings and on to the cam shaft. The set screws35 and 36 engage within the grooves 34 and 33 respectively and hold the bearings u and t in place longitudinally in the bores s and r and prevent the bearings wand t from turning in said bores. On account of the construction of bearings t and u they have no special top or bottom, so that the only care required in assembling the cam shaft and said bearings t and u is to have the set screws 35 and 36 enter the grooves 34 and 33 in said bearings.

The valve lifters 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45, are all duplicates each of the other, and each is composed of a cylindrical part 46, slottedat its lower end to receive an anti-friction wheel '47 pivoted'therein, and

over the cylindrical upstanding parts of the valve lifter guides as clearly shown by the drawings. They are retained in place by the lock nuts 49 and serve not only to exclude dust and dirt but also serve as supports to keep the valve lifters from falling through the valve lifter guides when cam shaft 25 is removed from the engine.

The valve lifter guides are allduplicates each of the other, but they are severally designated by the reference numerals 52, 53, 54 and 55. Each valve lifter guide is composed of a plate 56, with two upstanding and preferably cylindrical parts 57 and 58, and two downwardly extending preferably cylindrical parts 59 and 60, which are bored to receive the cylindrical parts 46 of the valve lifters, so that each valve lifter guide guides the two valve lifters for the inlet and exhaust valves of a cylinder. The top of shell (1. of crank-case 1 is provided with apertures through which the downwardly extending parts 59 and 60 of the valve lifter guides extend, and each valve lifter guide is secured to the shell a by a single bolt instead of by a plurality of bolts, as heretofore required. These bolts are designated by the reference numerals 61, 62, 63 and 64.

The downwardly extending projections 59 and 60 of the valve lifter guides have slots 65 and 66 to receive the antifriction wheels 47, and the slots are long enough so that wheels 47 can move up to the extreme limit of throw of the cams. This construction prevents the valve lifters from turning within the guides.

The valve stems 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 and 74 are not connected with the valve lifters 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45, but rest directly upon the tops or heads of the bolts 48 when the bolts 48 are so adjusted that there is no clearance between the valve stems and the valve lifters, when the valves are in their closed positions. The valve stems 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 and 74 are guided within valve stem guides 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 and 82, and each valve stem has an adjustable nut or projection 83 thereon, against which a spring 84 bears to hold the valve to its seat in the ordinary manner.

The exhaust, manifold is composed of a single pipe member 85, provided with lateral projections 86, 87, 88 and 89, with faced ends adapted to make tight joints with faced surfaces adjacent the exhaust ports from the cylinders, two of which, 90 and 91, areshown by Fig. 3 of the drawings. Any suitable packing material may be employed to make these joints absolutely tight if desired. The exhaust manifold may increase in size from the lateral projection 86 at one end, to its other end, and may be provided with a flange 92 at its free end for connecting it with an exhaust pipe. The exhaust manifold 85 is preferably secured directly to the cylinder castings by four bolts 93, 94, 95 and 96, which pass through apertures in lugs 97, 98, 99 and 100, preferably cast on the outside of the manifold 85, and which bolts screw into screwthreaded apertures in the cylinder castings.

Preferably the inlet valves for each pair of cylinders are located between the exhaust valves for said cylinders, as clearly shown by Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, and the inlet manifold 101 leading from the carbureter (not shown) has only two branches 102, 103, which are adapted tocommunicate respectively with inlet apertures which communicate with both cylinders of a pair, the inlet aperture 104 for the rear pair of cylinders being clearly shown by Fig. 3 of the drawings. The laterally extended ends of the branches 102 and 103 of the inlet manifold 1.01 are faced to make tight joints with faced parts of the cylinder castings, the same as is the case with the lateral branches of the exhaust manifold and the inlet manifold is preferably held in position by bolts 105, 106, which pass through screwthreaded lugs on the exhaust manifold 85. Preferably bolts 105 and 106 have pointed or conical ends, which enter recesses 107 and 108 in the inlet manifold and said bolts may be provided with lock nuts 109, 110. With this construction it will readily be seen that the inlet manifold can be removed from the engine by disconnecting it from the carbureter connection (not shown) and by simply unscrewing bolts 105 and 106, while the exhaust manifold 85 can be readily removed from the engine by uncoupling it from the exhaust pipe (not shown) and unscrewing bolts 93, 94, 95 and 96.

The water jackets 18 are preferably formed as integral parts of the pairs of cylinder castings, and this invention does not relate to the interior construction and arrangement of the water jackets by which the proper circulation of water is secured, but this inventlon does provlde new and useful constructions for connecting the water 0011- nections with the water jackets.

The supply of cooling water can be obtained from any suitable source, as for example, the radiator at the front end of an automobile (not shown) and the heated water will leave the water jackets through the header 111 communicating with the upper parts of the water jackets and the cool water will enter the water jackets through the supply connection header 112 communicating with the lower parts thereof. It is preferred to provide the apertures of the water jackets, with which the header 111 and the supply connection 112 communicate, with spiders formed as integral parts of the castafford a true seat for.the heads of said bolts.

The numeral 121 designates the commutator generally, which is supported by the vertical shaft 122 at the rear of the engine, and is driven from the cam shaft 25 by gears only one of which is shown.

The crank shaft 6 at the front end of the engine has a herringbone or spiral gear 123 keyed or otherwise secured thereto, which is adapted to mesh with the herringbone or spiral gear 29 keyed or otherwise secured to the cam shaft 25. Gear 29 is twice as large in diameter and is also about twice as wide or thick as gear 123, and the teeth inclined in one direction are about twice as long as those inclined in the opposite direction, as clearly shown by Rig. 5 of the drawings. This construction not only permits gears 123 and 29 to run together in the same plane as herringbone or spiral gears, but it permits a spiral gear 124 to be run by the longer teeth on gear 29, so as to rotate a. shaft 125 which is preferably disposed across the front end of the engine and preferably at right angles with the crank shaft 6 and with the cam shaft 25. The shaft 126 of the magneto 127 is clutched or secured to the shaft 125 by any suitable or preferred construction, as for example, the mortise and tenon arrangement shown by Fig. 4 of the drawings.

When theengine is running with crank shaft 6 and gear 123 revolving in the same direction as the hands of a watch with the arrangement and construction of the gears as shown by Fig. 4 of the drawings, the ithrust of shaft 125 will be toward the left hand, so ball hearings or any suitable con struction of anti-friction bearings are interposed between cap 128 and the hub of spiral gear 129, and these anti-friction devices are designated by the numeral 130. The spiral gear 129 secured to shaft 125 meshes with a spiral gear 131 secured to a shaft 132, which shaft is disposed at right angles to shaft 125 and projects toward the front of the engine and is intended to and adapted to carry the fan (not shown) for forcing air to create a draft of air over the radiator of an automobile (not shown),and for convenience shaft 132 willbe termed the fan shaft, and shaft 125 will be termed the transverse shaft for brevity of designation. The urpose and function of the transverse sha t 125 is for driving auxiliaries. The specific auxiliaries illustrated by the drawings, which are or may be driven by said transverse shaft, are a fan shaft, a pump and a magneto. Other auxiliaries can of course be driven by the same shaft, and the location of the said shaft atone end of the engine is important, because it can be driven from the cam shaft gear, thus saving extra gearing. The location of the transverse shaft 125 above and outside of the crank case 1 as clearly shown by Fig. 4 of the drawings, is of importance from a mechanical standpoint, because auxiliaries can be readily connected with said transverse shaft 125 or disconnected therefrom as convenience may dictate, and the transverse shaft itself may be readily removed from the engine.

The numeral 133 designates generally an air pump for inflating tires and for furnishing compressed air for any other desired purposes, and is adapted to be bolted to the a gear and shaft casing h. This pump does not require a detailed description, but it has a cylinder provided with inlet ports 134, a valve controlled outlet port 135, a nipple 136 for a pipe connection, a piston 137 connected with a crank shaft 138 by a connecting rod 139. The cylinder of the air pump is mounted upon a casing 140, said casing being provided with bearings for the crank shaft 138, the casing proper being adapted to be bolted to the gear and shaft casing h as aforesaid and one of the bearings for crank shaft 138 is extended so that it projects within gear and shaft casing h and serves as an end bearing for shaft 125 and by bearing against the hub of gear 124 also serves as a thrust bearing. A clutch member 141 is adapted to clutch crank shaft 1 138 to the transverse shaft 125. This clutch member 141 as illustrated, is simply a cylindrical member provided with teeth extending around its circumference which are adapted to mesh with the teeth of a hand operable gear wheel 142, so that clutch member 141 can be moved to the rightor the left by revolving gear wheel 142, while at the same time clutch member 141 can be rotated by shaft 125 because the teeth provided on its surface simply run between the teeth of the gear 142. In the construction shown, cam shaft 138 and transverse shaft 125 have slots in their ends and clutch member 141 is provided with a projection at each end, and these projections are long enough so that they can be engaged simultaneously within the slots of the two shafts, or one can be entirely withdrawn from the slot in the lifters from falling throug end of shaft 125.

If the air pump 133 is not needed or is not wanted, the end of shaft 125 which is supported by the air pump casing, is supported by a special ca 143, which is bolted on to the gear and s aft casing h in the place of and instead of the air pump, and this cap 143 has an inwardly extended bearing 144 to support the end of transverse shaft 125 and to act as a thrust bearin therefor in the same manner as the extende bearing of the casing 140 of the air pump.

A cover plate 31 is adapted to be bolted to the parts it and Mt of the gear and shaft casing to close said casing to protect gears 29 and 123 and to permit said gears to'be run in oil.

The cam shaft 25 is retained in its proper longitudinal position only by gear 29 which meshes with gear 123 secured to the crank shaft 6. Crank shaft 6 is retained in a fixed position longitudinally of the engine by the bearings therefor. To remove the cam shaft "25 while the crank shaft 6 remains in position, it is only necessary to remove cover plate 31, take out thekey which secures gear 123 to crank shaft 6, unscrew bolts 35 and 36 and pull cam shaft 25 and gears 29 and 123 out until gear 123 is free of crank shaft 6, when it can be laid aside and cam shaft 25 with the cams, gears and bearings t and u thereon can be pulled out of the crank-case without disturbing a single adjustment. When the cam shaft is removed the dust caps 50 revent the valve their guides. What I claim is:

1. In an internal combination with the crank and cam shafts combustion engine, the parallel, longitudinal having intermeshing qherringbone gears thereon, of a shaft extending transversely with respect to said crank and cam shafts and provided with a spiral gear thereon meshing with teeth of the herringbone gearv on the cam shaft.

2. In an. internal combustion engine, the combination with the parallel, longitudinal crank and cam shafts having intermeshing herringbone gears thereon, of a shaft ex tending transversely with respect to said crank and cam shafts and provided with combination with the crank shaft and herringbone gear thereon, of the cam shaft and cam shaft herringbone gear adapted to be.

driven by said crank shaft herringbone gear, the teeth of said cam shaft herringbone gear which diverge in one direction being longer than the other teeth of said gear, a transverse shaft and a spiral gear thereon adapted to mesh with and be driven by the longer teeth of said cam shaft herringbone gear.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with the crank shaft and herringbone gear thereon, of the cam shaft and cam shaft herringbone gear in mesh with the gear on the crank shaft, said cam shaft gear being wider than said crank shaft gear and having its teeth which diverge to the rear longer than its teeth which diverge to the front, a transverse shaft and a spiral gear thereon adapted to mesh with and be driven by the rearwardly'diverging teeth of said cam shaft gear, and bearings for supporting said cam shaft while at the same time ermitting it to be withdrawn lengthwise rom the engine.

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combinatigrl with the crank shaft and gear thereon, of the cam shaft and cam shaft gear adapted to be driven by said crank shaft gear, a transverse shaft, a gear secured to said transverse shaft and adapted to mesh with and be driven by said cam shaft gear,

a casing for said transverse shaft, and a member adapted to be secured to said casing, said member being provided with an elongated bearing adapted to extend into said casing and support an end of said transverse shaft.

In witness whereof I hereto aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NIELS A. CHRISTENSEN. Witnesses:

CHAS. L. Goss, FRANK E. DENNE'I'I. 

